RainStorm
by PerriwinkleRose
Summary: Kate and Jack get caught in the rain.


RainStorm

Rating: T (I think…I know it's not any higher)

Summary: Kate and Jack get caught in the rain.

Author's Note: This story takes place on the island, but in no particular time frame.

Disclaimer: Lost is not mine (I'm pretty sure… let me check once more… nope, still not mine)

Jack watched as Kate studied the trees and bushes around her. He couldn't help but marvel at how amazing she looked, even though she was slightly sweaty and disheveled from trekking through the jungle all day.

They were deep in the jungle helping Lock track a boar. When the tracks of the animal had seemed to go in two different directions, the small group had split up in an attempt to find the boar before sundown.

Kate was now examining the small clearing they had come to, trying to find any trace of the boar's tracks. She felt Jack watching her, and she smiled to herself but pretended not to notice his stare. She turned around quickly, hoping to 'catch him in the act,' and it worked. Jack quickly turned away, looking around the jungle trying to find something else to be interested in.

Kate laughed under her breath, but only said, "I'm not sure, but there seems to be a small trace of tracks going that way," she pointed down what looked like a small path, "I don't know, it could be a day or so old. I guess we should probably just head back, it doesn't really seem worth following."

Jack really didn't want this little journey to end. If he were to be honest with himself, he would say that he had actually been having a great time hanging out with Kate all day. It was a nice change from his every day chore of looking after all the survivors. "I don't mind if we keep following the tracks for a while longer, it could be worth investigating," he hoped he didn't sound too eager.

Kate studied him and the trace of the almost non-existing tracks, trying to figure out if he had an ulterior motive. "Isn't it getting kind of late, we don't want to get stuck out here when it gets dark," she was giving him an out, in case he really did want to go back.

Jack looked up at the sky, considered where the sun was now, and concluded, "I think we can continue for a while longer, we've still got plenty of daylight left.

"Ok," Kate agreed.

Both very happy with the decision that had been made, they continued on their trek through the jungle, hardly paying any attention to the 'tracks' they were following.

They had been walking for about an hour or so when Kate noticed something unusual about the weather. "Jack, it's getting kind of dark, isn't a little early for that?"

Jack looked up at the sky, "Yeah, it is too early." He noticed dark clouds not to far away, "It looks like a storm is coming, and it's moving quickly, we should head back."

They immediately turned around and started toward the camp. The sky was becoming increasingly darker and the temperature was dropping rapidly. Jack and Kate were traveling quickly, moving twice as fast as they had on their way into the jungle, but it was getting harder to see, and the wind was picking up considerably. Kate would never have said it out loud, but she was more than a little scared of their current circumstances. There was just something very odd about the sudden storm and the wind, and she had never remembered it being this cold on the island before. It all just gave her the creeps.

Jack too was a little uneasy about their situation. If they got caught in this storm, he wasn't sure he would be able to get them back to camp, and because this storm seemed to be a bad one, spending the night in the jungle seemed very dangerous. He couldn't help but blame himself for this, if he had not been selfish in wanting to spend more time with Kate, they would be safely back at camp by now.

After about half an hour of racing through the jungle, the rain came. It came suddenly and hard, in sheets of ice cold water. In a matter of seconds, Jack and Kate were both drenched. At first, it felt good to both of them, like a nice shower after their long hot day in the sun, but soon the now cooler temperature and the frigid cold of the rain made them both shiver slightly.

They continued picking their way through the jungle, but Jack found it difficult to figure out where they were. Everything looked so different in the dark, and the pouring rain made it almost impossible to see. He turned around to see how Kate was managing (and to be quite honest, he just liked looking at her in general), but he could barely see her moving form a little ways behind him. He paused to let her catch up.

"I can barely see anything!" She had to practically shout over the wind and rain to be heard, "Should we stop and wait it out?"

Jack shook his head, "It doesn't look like it's going to stop anytime soon, and as the sun goes down it's going to get much colder."

"Colder than it already is?" Kate couldn't imaging it being cold on this island _'Maybe this is how the polar bears survived here,'_ she joked with herself.

Jack chuckled at how quickly she had gotten used to the very warm climate on the island, "Yeah, it's gonna get colder, which is why we have to get back to the shelter of camp. I've never seen a storm like this before… I'm really not sure how bad it's going to get."

They continued for a few minuets, but the ground was wet and slippery, and soon Kate slipped. Jack was immediately by her side. He offered her his hand and pulled her back to her feet.

"Are you ok?" he asked, not letting go of her hand, and pulling her closer to him so he didn't have to shout.

She nodded and felt slightly warmer with the small contact they had through their hands. Kate wasn't quite sure why, but she felt a little shy. She and Jack had been this close many times before, and she had always felt attracted to him, so why was this closeness bringing butterflies to her stomach? _'Oh right,'_ she thought, _'because it always does.' _

Jack smiled at her to show he was relieved that she was ok, and also a little because even in the rain, he could see that his touch affected her.

Still keeping her hand in his, he turned and continued through the jungle, not really sure if they were going in the right direction, but hoping that they could at least find some sort of shelter they could spend the night in. It was really cold now, and Jack was struggling not to shiver in his soaking clothes. They kept walking for a while, and Jack felt Kate move closer to him. He turned and saw her shaking uncontrollably. He immediately stopped and brought her toward him.

"Kate, what's wrong?" he asked, his brow wrinkled in worry, "Are you alright?"

Kate nodded and said through chattering teeth, "Yeah, I'm just really, really cold." She was still shivering uncontrollably, withdrawing into herself as she concentrated on getting warm. Jack knew that sun had probably just now gone all the way down, so it was still going to get a little colder. He also knew that, although the temperature alone wasn't very dangerous, and neither were the wet clothes, together they could be very dangerous for a person's health. Looking at Kate, Jack knew he had to find a way to get her warm, and fast.

"We should have reached camp by now," he told her. "I guess we got lost. We're gonna have to find a way to camp around here for the night." Kate nodded barely registering what he said.

Jack looked around for a way to keep warm. A fire was out of the question since any firewood around them would be soaked, and besides that, the rain would instantly put any fire out. There were no caves around, and he couldn't even find a tree that was slightly shielding the rain. _'Great job Jack,'_ he thought, _'here your selfishness has put Kate in danger, and you can't even find a way to keep her body from going into shock.'_ And then he had an idea. It was a very crazy idea, but an idea none the less.

"Uh… Kate?" He approached her afraid of how she would react to what he was about to ask her to do. Her head snapped to attention, showing that she was listening, but still distracted by how freezing she was. "Kate, I need you to take your clothes off."

"What?" Now he really did have her attention. In her current state of mind, she couldn't even imagine why he would want her to take her clothes off.

"I know it sounds strange," Jack quickly added, "but it really will help. Right now, your wet clothes are only making you colder." He paused to see if his reassurance was affecting her. She seemed to be accepting the explanation for now, so he continued, "I have a blanket in my bag that is probably still mostly dry because I have it wrapped in a tarp. I'm going to wrap us both up in the blanket and put the tarp around us to help keep us dry. Our body heat should help us stay warm." He held his breath, waiting for her response, not only because he knew it was the only way to keep her warm, and if she didn't accept that, he was out of ideas, but also because he wondered if he was ready to see her naked, even if it was for the sake of survival. He wasn't sure he could trust himself to keep things… under control. And what if she just didn't want him to see her naked, no matter what the consequences?

Kate looked at him for a second, making sure he was serious, and searching for another solution. When she was sure he was serious and she could find no other solution, she said blankly, "Ok." Jack let out a sigh of relief. Then she said, just as blankly as before, as if it was an everyday thing to say, "But you have to take your clothes off too."

Jack stared at her shocked for a moment at what she had said. It wasn't like he was the one who was still shivering uncontrollably. But the more he thought about it, the more he noticed that he was beginning to shiver too, and it really did make sense because their body heat could be shared more easily that way.

"Fine," he answered, still wondering how he was going to control himself, especially now that he would be naked too. "I'll just…turn around and you – we, can…well you know." He turned around and they both stripped to just their underwear. Jack reached into his backpack and pulled out the tarp and blanket, careful to keep the blanket inside of the tarp so it wouldn't get wet.

"Jack?" Kate's voice was very shaky and weak. Worried, Jack turned around, and for a split second he looked at her in just her bra and underwear and thought of how amazing she looked. But he quickly pushed those thoughts out of his head as he saw her shivering so much now that she could barely stand. He was by her side in an instant. He quickly wrapped first the blanket and then the tarp around them and pulled her into his embrace.

Despite the fact that she was still shivering, Kate immediately felt warmer with his bare skin touching hers. She pulled her arms into herself and wedged them in between both their chests in an attempt to get warmer. She also buried her face into the crook of his neck, bringing as much of her body as close to him as she could, both to be warmer, and because she loved the feeling the contact with his skin brought. The feeling was warming her from the inside out. As she attempted to snuggle closer to him, imagining that her body was literally melting into his, she realized that she had never felt so protected and so safe before.

Jack felt her shift and bring herself as close to him as she could. He felt like his heart was about to burst with delight at her nearness to him. He hugged her tighter, assisting her in the attempt to bring their bodies as close as possible. She was still shivering a lot, although not as much as before, so he slowly began to rub the skin on her back where his hands were, attempting to use friction to heat her body up. He rubbed in circles all over her back, and then moved his hands to her shoulders and arms. He massaged up and down her arms, and although Kate felt it warming and helping her, she couldn't help but miss the feeling of his arms wrapped tightly around her. She shifted her arms from between them, and moved them to snake around his waste and pull him closer. She continued moving her hands up his back and rested them on the back of his shoulders, completely trapping him against her. This made it so he could no longer rub her arms, but he couldn't say he really objected to their new position. He brought his hands to now rub along her sides. Up right next to her breasts, and down all the way to her hips. Noticing that she was no longer shivering, he made this motion slower than the previous ones, not necessarily attempting to warm her up, but instead to see how she would react.

Kate felt him rub her sides, slowly, this time as if teasing her. The feeling of his caresses against her skin was incredible. She barely noticed that she was cold and vaguely wondered if she still was. As Jack's hands moved once again up her body, he brought them forward ever so slightly; caressing the sides of her breast and making her entire body tingle in awareness. _'This is so unfair,'_ she thought, _'he gets to have all the power in this arrangement.'_ She smiled to herself as Jack brought his hands down again, this time making small light circles with his thumbs all the way to her hips, again sending electricity all through her body. _'Well, two can play this game.'_

Kate very slowly moved her hands all the way down his back until they were resting just above his butt. She gently tugged him forward, bringing their hips, and all things attached, closer and closer, until Kate was pressing hard against him.

Jack immediately pulled back and moved as far away as he could. This wasn't very far, considering he had managed to wrap their blanket so tightly around them that he could only put a few centimeters between them, and most of their bodies were still touching. He hadn't expected Kate to do that, and he didn't want to admit how he had almost lost control. Instead, he studied her face for a moment, wanting to memorize the way she looked at this very moment. Her hair was wet from the rain, and it clung to her neck and parts of her shoulders. He wanted to reach out and touch it, but refrained himself from doing so. The rain was still beating down on them, creating little rivulets in the curves of her face. Water was literally dripping from her nose. She looked so beautiful; he could have been content watching her for the rest of his life.

Jack's immediate response made Kate think, _'Ha! I won!'_ But she almost instantly regretted it as he completely pulled away, leaving too much of her body missing his touch. She felt guilty for trying to get a reaction from him. She let him look at her for a moment as he tried to compose himself.

"I'm cold." She said it very quietly, and both understood that she was not cold from the pouring rain or the freezing temperature anymore.

Jack once again pulled her into his embrace, but she resisted a little, not wrapping her arms around him. Instead, she brought them around her back and unhooked her bra. As she did this, she leaned into him and whispered very softly in his ear, "I think our clothes are still to wet," She paused to glance at his face, "we might need to get rid of the rest."

Jack felt her breath on his neck and ear, and once again had to keep himself from letting his body take over. Kate finished removing her bra, and worked her way down to her panties, pulling them off as well.

"Your turn," she said as she took hold of the blankets so that he could let go and step out of his underwear. Neither looked down to examine the other, partly because they were to close to be able to really see anything, and partly because they were both trying to prove to the other that they were still just doing this to stay warm.

Jack pulled Kate down so that they were both sitting on the ground. He arranged their tarp and blanket so that they could lie on top without getting too wet, and they settled down on the jungle floor. Jack was on his back with Kate curled up next to him, her head resting on his chest. As Kate listened to his heartbeat, she again felt the feelings of safety, warmth, and protection.

Jack finally felt whole. After Sarah had left, he wasn't sure he could ever feel that way about a woman again. He was partly right; he still had never felt the same way he had felt when he was with Sarah, because with Kate, it was different. It was better. He couldn't really explain what was better or different about it, but he knew it made him feel whole for the first time. Like a real human being.

They lay there through the night, neither saying anything, just enjoying the feeling of their bodies next to each other. At some point during the night, the rain stopped, but neither made any effort to move. Occasionally they would drift off to sleep, but most of the night they lay awake, so they wouldn't miss any of the feelings these blissful circumstances brought them.

The sun eventually rose, and still neither Jack nor Kate made any attempt to move. Unfortunately, Jack knew that the other survivors would be worried about them, and even might come looking for them. He knew they should probably get up and try to find their way back to camp.

He shifted slightly so he was looking down at Kate. She tilted her head up to meet his gaze. "Good Morning," he whispered. She smiled shyly up at him. Seeing her smile pushed all thoughts of getting up out of Jack's mind. Instead, he slowly brought his face closer to hers, and once she realized what he was going to do, she too began to inch forward until they met in the middle. Their lips brushed softly, both very timid at first. The electricity that surged through their bodies urged them to deepen the kiss, pulling each other closer. Their lips parted, and Jack slipped his tongue into her mouth. Kate moaned softly against him. Both felt as if they were in heaven, and never wanted to stop. Eventually, they needed air, so they parted reluctantly.

They looked at each other for a moment, not saying anything, because nothing needed to be said. Their minds were thinking a million things at once. Questions about what had just happened, the position they were in now, and what would happen in the future ran through their minds. Not wanting to rush anything, and knowing that they needed time to process things, they moved back to their previous position before their kiss. They lay there for a while longer before Jack spoke.

"I guess we should probably head back," he reluctantly stated, although he gave no indication that he was ready to move from their current position.

"Yeah, you're probably right," Kate too made no notion to stir.

They probably would have stayed that way for the rest of eternity had they not heard a rustle in the bushes ahead of them. They both lifted there heads startled by the noise.

"Well, well, well, what is this?" Sawyer smirked at the two obviously naked people who were wrapped only in a blanket. He yelled back in the direction he had come from, "Hurly, Lock, I found them!" He turned back to the still shocked couple, "I'll just leave you two to finish whatever it is ya'll need to do, but… um… don't take too long, I can't keep them from finding you guys forever." With that, he turned away and marched back the way he had come.

It was a moment before either spoke. They were both still trying to process what had just happened, and what had happened that night. Finally Kate spoke:

"I guess we were a little closer to camp than we thought."

Jack chuckled at her joke. They both stood and dressed and went about their daily lives, sharing secret smiles now and then, occasionally stealing a kiss or two when no one was around. And every once in a while, they would go on a 'boar hunt' and the other survivors noticed that they never brought back any meat, and they never returned until the next morning.

The End


End file.
